There are times when parents are unaware of what their children are doing.
And it’s probably anger that is fuelling the violence among schoolchildren.
These were the views of the 16-year-old schoolboy who has been charged in connection with the cutlass attack at Ellerslie School last November.
Tyriz Nathan Skinner, of Fustic Village, St Lucy, was back in the Bridgetown Traffic Court yesterday, where he produced his finished report on the two books Stride Towards Freedom and Strength To Love by slain American civil rights activist, Dr Martin Luther King.
He had been charged with wounding 17-year-old Ellerslie fourth former Dale Selman on November 22, 2017 and remains on $10 000 bail and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
“Do you know,” Magistrate Graveney Bannister asked the boy, “what is the root of the violence in schools?”
“Probably anger,” the boy replied.
“But who are you angry with and who are you retaliating against? And do you believe the parents should be held responsible?” the magistrate further asked.
“It depends. Sometimes parents are unaware,” the boy replied.
But the magistrate noted: “When you are a certain age, you must take responsibility for your actions and you must see the consequences of your actions – immediately and in the long term.”
He then asked the boy what he had learnt in the wake of reading the two King books, to which the boy replied: “Don’t retaliate when things are bad or somebody interferes with you.
“I have learnt that the use of violence does not solve anything,” he added.
The magistrate further asked Skinner what lessons he would give to other students from the two books.
“Try your best not to create violence and love one another,” said the 16-year-old, who has been moved from the Ellerslie School to a private secondary school.
In the report, the boy listed the non-violence principles espoused by Dr King and the lessons he had taken from them, including one which he said confused him at first “since it advised that suffering should be accepted without retaliation.”
“This principle suggests that the victim should accept the beating and blows without striking back. I asked myself why should I allow myself to be repeatedly beaten without defending myself. As I read further I began to understand the answer. My understanding is that there is power in suffering which builds character and strength in order to get through any bad situation,” the report said.
Skinner’s report concluded that “in order to be the good citizen I want to become, I must conquer evil with love at all times don’t matter how difficult it may seem, in order to break the chain of tragedy and hurt”.
The boy returns to court on April 30 and was exhorted by the magistrate, to keep reading and to share his knowledge with his friends. (HLE)
